Mercy Global Concern - 2004

EDUCATION-KENYA: Mastering the ABCs is Not Always Child's Play

NAIROBI, Oct 13 (IPS) - Discussions about improving the level of education in Kenya often focus on the challenge of achieving universal primary education - or ensuring that girls are not discriminated against when it comes to schooling.

These matters are undoubtedly important; in fact, universal primary education has even been enshrined in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as something that all countries should aspire to have in place by 2015.

Eight MDGs were agreed on by global leaders during their Millennium Summit at the United Nations in 2000; the goals are also aimed at reducing ills such as poverty, child and maternal mortality and environmental degradation.

But, as crucial as the focus on children's education is, it appears to be marginalising another group of people who are also in urgent need of educational assistance: Kenya's illiterate adults.

According to the 2004 Human Development Report, published by the UN Development Programme, close to 16 percent of Kenyan adults are illiterate.

The Kenya Adult Education Association (KAEA), an umbrella body for organisations that deal with adult and continuing education, says 80 percent of these persons are women.

The inability to read and write properly undermines well-being in several areas of an adult's life - including their chances of getting employment. Indeed, it could even increase the likelihood of children remaining illiterate, as parents who lack education may not see the benefits of ensuring that their sons and daughters receive schooling.

A 2001 report by the World Bank entitled 'Engaging With Adults: The case for Increased Support to Adult Basic Education in Sub-Saharan Africa' underscores this point, noting that when mothers become literate, they will do more to back up their children's schooling and especially their daughters' education.

Yet, say education activists, government is failing to treat the matter of adult illiteracy with the urgency that it deserves.

The government does not recognise education of adults. There is no order in the adult education programme. We have no text books. no learning material and no teachers, Magdalene Gathoni, national co ordinator of the Kenya Adult Learners Association, told IPS.

The government puts a lot of emphasis on the free primary education and not a word about adult learning. With this kind of discrimination, how is the country expected to meet the Education for All goal? she asked.

Gathoni's comment is a reference to 'Education for All: Meeting Our Collective Commitments', a 2,000 word declaration adopted at the World Education Forum that was held in the Senegalese capital Dakar in 2000.

Also known as the 'Dakar Framework for Action', the document committed signatories to achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.

During the forum, 164 countries - including Kenya - adopted the Dakar Framework for Action. Words have not been translated into action, however - and as a result, learners are leaving (adult education classes) in huge numbers, says Gathoni.

This claim is echoed by Ephantus Njiru, national coordinator of KAEA. He says that 114,865 adult learners enrolled in classes in 2002, down from 415,000 in 1999.

Njiru also bemoans the lack of teaching staff for adult literacy programmes, adding that this may have something to do with the meagre salaries that instructors receive.

It is a mockery of justice to have only a handful of teachers to cater for the millions of adult students. With no teachers, the learners may not see any reason (for) attending classes, Njiru told IPS in an interview. Government does not refute these claims.

In 1979, we had 3,000 teachers recruited as full-time employees, while 5,000 more were employed on a part-time basis. Currently, there are 1,950 serving as full-time teachers while only 2,000 are on temporary arrangements, Karanja wa Kang'ethe, senior education officer in the Department of Adult Education, told IPS. The department forms part of the Ministry of Gender, Culture, Sports and Social Services.

Besides, the teachers are poorly paid even though there have been efforts to review their salaries, Kang'ethe added. These admissions serve as a sad indictment of the Department of Adult Education, which was established in 1979 with the goal of eradicating adult illiteracy within five years.

Education specialists say the time has come for a vigorous overhaul of policy in the matter of adult literacy.

First, we need a policy making adult education compulsory if the government is serious about fighting illiteracy, Njiru says.

If such a policy was in place, we would not witness the massive exodus of adult learners from classrooms. This would greatly reduce the population of illiterate persons in the country, he adds. But, says Kang'e the, this is easier said than done.

The high levels of poverty in the country have had an adverse effect on adult education programmes, as learners give priority to looking for food. It is a fact here that the basic requirements of learners outweigh their intellectual needs, he notes.

Government statistics indicate that about 56 percent of Kenyans live below the poverty line of a dollar a day.

Kang'ethe says authorities are assisting adult learners to develop income-generating activities in a bid to increase their opportunities for study. These activities include poultry farming and bee keeping.

Moves are also afoot to improve the adult learners' curriculum, which previously sought only to provide basic literacy skills. The hope is that a revamped curriculum will give adults a better basis for furthering their education.

In addition, a Draft Policy Paper on Adult and Continuing Education - currently being discussed in parliament - seeks to have adult education courses recognised with formal qualifications.

The Kenyan government's decision to introduce free primary education last year, a move that saw enrolment in junior schools increase by more than a million children, has been praised.

Those adult learners who gather patiently for evening classes in community halls, schools, churches - even outdoors, in some cases - don't make for a similarly glamorous cause in the matter of improving education.

But as with primary education, a substantial investment in adult literacy could deliver exponential benefits for Kenya in the long run.

Joyce Mulama